Journal article 1478 views
‘To "Make a Bull": Autobiography, Idealism and Writing in Coleridge's "Biographia Literaria"'
Steven Vine
Prose Studies, Volume: 13, Issue: 3, Pages: 99 - 114
Swansea University Author: Steven Vine
Abstract
‘The postulate of philosophy and at the same time the test of philosophic capacity, is no other than the heaven-descended KNOW THYSELF!’ writes Coleridge in the 'Biographia Literaria'. The deduction of metaphysical truth is co-extensive with the deduction of the self: philosophy is written...
| Published in: | Prose Studies |
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| Published: |
1990
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa17972 |
| Abstract: |
‘The postulate of philosophy and at the same time the test of philosophic capacity, is no other than the heaven-descended KNOW THYSELF!’ writes Coleridge in the 'Biographia Literaria'. The deduction of metaphysical truth is co-extensive with the deduction of the self: philosophy is written ‘as’ autobiography. Focusing on Chapters 1-13 of the 'Biographia', the first volume of the book when it was published in 1817, the essay shows how literary biography and metaphysics implicate each other in such a way as to make the autobiographical ‘mind & fortunes of S.T. Coleridge’ themselves the ground and prospective achievement of ‘metaphysical’ subjectivity. At the same time, the philosophical deduction of selfhood is haunted by the question of writing, or the letter, and Coleridge fails to achieve the unity of self that he desires. |
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| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Issue: |
3 |
| Start Page: |
99 |
| End Page: |
114 |